Mac Data Recovery v.6: Regain Just About Everything

a review by Tom Piper

Backup, backup, backup . . . this is the mantra of computer volume protection! Yet, even backups get corrupted, and boot drives fail to boot . . . this is when you need reliable data insurance to bring back those precious files. I’ve been using Stellar recovery products for many years, and their latest release does it all.

The all new Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery Version 6 software recovers just about everything, ranging from files, folders, music, photos, videos to other important documents that may have been lost due to accidental deletion, corruption or formatting. It is one solution for my data recovery requirements after almost all instances of data loss. I can restore lost data from volumes that are corrupted, damaged, deleted and even reformatted.

This powerful Mac data recovery application provides a good balance of simplicity and advanced recovery features to suit a broad spectrum of Mac users like me. Here is a quick description of the many functions Mac Data Recovery software handles:  

• Mac Data Recovery: Stellar Mac Data Recovery brings me plenty of functionality at my fingertips to help safely recover everything I lost on my Mac. I can retrieve irreplaceable files on my hard drive lost due to media formatting, accidental deletion, malicious software attack or other similar issues. The tool's easy-to-use approach coupled with the ability to perform different recovery options (Quick Recovery, Deleted Recovery, Formatted Media & Search Lost Volume) helps me make the most of this data recovery application. 
• Deleted File Recovery: This software makes it exceedingly simple to undelete all your my, folders, documents even after completely emptying the Trash or by hitting 'Command+Shift+Option+Delete'. The software works flawlessly to scan any large Mac volume or drive for deleted files. This utility can now recover all my recently deleted files with their original names.  
• Deleted Volume Recovery: I can now recover lost or deleted volumes on my Mac with minimum fuss using this Mac recovery application. If I no longer see existing volumes on my iMac and MacBook Pro (or Mac Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac Mini, if I had them), the software can locate and rebuild those deleted volumes conveniently to help you get your valuable data back. The software can recover entire volumes deleted from any HFS, HFS+, FAT, NTFS, or ExFAT formatted drive.  
• Raw Recovery: This application has a built-in fingerprint of every common file type that helps better recognize different types of files stored on my hard drive and conveniently perform data recovery based on file signatures. With advanced Raw Recovery feature, I can recover more than 122 different file types with the software.  
• Mac Photo Recovery: I can even recover lost, deleted or formatted photos from any internal or external Mac hard drive, USB drive, digital camera, memory card, SD card, flash card, or others. • System Startup Disc: This tool acts as a data rescuer even when my system fails to boot. Mac Data Recovery is available with a Bootable system startup DVD that comes handy in times of boot failure. 
• Recover Data from NTFS Partitions on Mac: The ultimate usability of the software is realized with its support for Boot Camp partition recovery. The software supports data recovery from NTFS partitions on Mac and gives me a hassle-free experience when recovering files from Windows Boot Camp partition.
• Create Image: This software includes a suite of free additional utilities for data safety, one of which is 'Create Image'. When my media develops bad sectors, and there are chances of impending drive failure, I can create and keep a mountable image of my Mac hard drive, volume, or selected region so that even in case of media failure, I will have a complete backup.
• Recovery from FAT and ExFAT Formatted Drives/Volumes: This software can safely bring back files lost from FAT or ExFAT formatted drives and volumes. The software introduces two levels of scans for FAT and ExFAT volumes including Quick Scan and Deep Scan for either extremely fast scan or time-intensive scanning, which performs a thorough sector-by-sector scan to dig out all the data lost from the drive.
• Resume Recovery: This is very helpful and important feature to recover data from the image file (. ) created at any LATER point of time. This user-friendly software allows me to restore lost or deleted data from any previously created image file of the corresponding Mac media.
• Optical Media Recovery: With this Mac recovery solution, I get the ability to easily grab all my seemingly inaccessible files stored on damaged or improperly burnt optical media (CD, DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc etc).
• Preview During Scan: While the software scans my media behind the scenes, I can see my images, songs, and videos displayed in the main interface on the fly. If I want, I can hide this on-the-fly preview by deselecting the option from preferences. In addition, after completion of the scanning process, the software allows to right click on any recoverable file and see its preview using Quick Look.
• iPod Data Recovery: As if Mac volume recovery is not enough, I can also recover my lost or deleted music files, videos, photos, pod casts and other files from any Mac-supported storage media, including iPods, USB drives and such, including even the iPod Classic and Shuffle.  
• Simple and Interactive GUI: This new version of the Mac recovery software has a simpler and more appealing graphical user interface. With detailed instructions for each step of data recovery, this software can be used by of us without needing any further technical assistance.
• Selective Recovery: On completion of the scanning process, the software lists all recoverable files and folders in a tree-view, from which I can check mark the required ones to perform selective recovery. Here, the software provides an easy recovery option with which I can simply right-click on the selected files or folders to recover them.

This is very awesome software with lots of features while remaining easy to use (see the initial operating screens at right). It can be used on any Intel or PowerPC (G3 or later) Mac running Mac OSX 10.4.1 or later which has at least one gigabyte of RAM and 50 megabytes of free hard drive space. Even with more features than before, this version runs 30% faster than former versions. It is designed even for the novice user, and provides 24-hour online support, if needed. And, just to give you an added level of confidence, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery Version 6 is available by download for $99.00 from www.stellarinfo.com (a premium version also available for $114). Add $20 if you want have them ship you the Recovery CD. And, if you want to try it out before buying, a free download and evaluation version allows you to preview any of their products first. Stellar offers a broad spectrum of other recovery software for Mac, Windows and other platforms, plus a hard drive or CD/DVD recovery service worldwide. This is a robust company with fine products that have been fully developed and are very reliable.